


when we met i was already gone

by witchy_country616



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 14:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8017033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchy_country616/pseuds/witchy_country616
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He had never been afraid of prison. It was always a possibility in their business. He just never expected to be sharing a cell with a 500-year Mexican ghost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when we met i was already gone

**Author's Note:**

> Based on two prompts received on tumblr that I decided to combine: meeting in prison au and ghost/living person au. I'm not really happy with how this came out, but I figured, after 2,5k+ words, I better post it, right?

The first he saw her he had been on solitary for three days (this guy had talked shit about Seth and he had knifed him), when suddenly and out of nowhere, there was this girl (woman) on the other side of the cell. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, seemingly wearing only a sort of wrap around her upper body, her long sun-kissed legs and feet left bare.

“What about you? What are you in for?” He asked, so starved for another human voice that he had taken to talk with himself.

“Are you talking to me?” Her voice was silky and with a hint of a latino accent.

“Are you seeing someone else here besides the Mexican girl I just made up?” He retorted angrily. Apparently, even his made-up girls talked shit back at him.

She let out a mean chuckle, like she pitied his ignorance. “I’m not Mexican.” She said with distaste. “I was here long before there was such a thing as Mexico. And you think you made me up? Think I am all in your head?”

“What other possibility would there be?” He asked, though he was sure his mind was not creative enough to come up with this _not_ -Mexican girl.

She laughed hard, still mean and fake. “Figures that the only person that could see me would think I’m just a fragment of his mind. Ever thought I am real, _Richard_?”

And before he could ask her how the hell did she know his name, she vanished just as quickly as she had appeared, leaving him confused and with the feeling he must be losing his mind.

 

 

She came back later that same day, after one of the guards had left him dinner.

“What do you want know?” He asked, his appetite gone with her presence (not like prison food was that great, anyway).

She smirked. “If I am just a fragment of your mind, shouldn’t you know? Why don’t you tell me what do I want, Richard?”

“Apparently to drive me crazy.” He retorted, trying to mask his uneasiness with her presence. He tried to tell himself he was just imagining things, his loneliness creating another human being to talk to, but it seemed less and less likely the more they talked.

“You’re not crazy. You have a beautiful mind, Richard, and I just want you to open yourself to that.” She said, coming closer to him and he reacted by turning away from her until his back was against the wall.

“Can’t you just go?”

She sighed, seeming yet again frustrated with him. “Fine, be like that.” And like the first time, she vanished right before his eyes.

 

 

But she was never gone for long. For the next two weeks he was in solitary, she visited him everyday. He tried ignoring her, but that only made her talk more until he had no choice but pay attention to her.

“I knew you were the one as soon as you arrived. There was something about you, Richard, and I knew you would be able to _see_. I followed you everywhere, tried to call your attention by moving things around, but not once did you notice me.”

“The one for what? And the accident at the cafeteria, it was you? Are you saying that all the weird shit that has been happening is all because of you? What are you, anyways? Some sort of _poltergeist_?”

“I’m not…whatever that is. But yes, I did cause you to trip and spread food all over yourself at the cafeteria.“

Richie banged his head against the cell’s wall. “I can’t believe I am losing my mind and making up reasons for accidents now.” He said, his eyes closed.

“You’re not losing your mind. There is a reason for everything. A reason for why you are here and why you can see me.”

“Yeah, and why is that?”

“You have to set me free.” She said seriously.

Richie laughed, but her face remained impassive. “And how the hell am I going to do that? And who are you, anyway?”

“I was once an innocent girl. My people believed that, because I had been born at the beginning of a new area, I was sacred and would bring them fortune. They brought food, animals and later even people as sacrifice to me. I tried escaping, but they caught me and brought me back here. This place used to be a temple, you know, where I was forced to serve the gods.” She stopped, trying to search on his face if he believed her, but Richie’s face gave nothing away. “Once the Spanish came, they murdered all of us. But the gods are wicked and petty, they thought I hadn’t served my punishment yet. So they trapped my spirit to this place, cursing me to remain a shadow on his world until came the one that would face the trials and set me free.”

“And you think that person is me?” He asked incredulous. “You can’t be serious.”

“In five hundred years, you are the first person that has ever seen me. You have to believe, Richard, or else I will be trapped here forever.”

She left right after and he was relieved to finally have some time to think by himself. He didn’t even believe in God, so how to even begin to wrap his mind on the story told by his ghost? “His ghost”, by the way, because nowhere in that story had she mentioned her name. But the other option was to admit that he was going crazy and _that_ didn’t please him in the least.

 

 

The very next day he was released from solitary confinement and she was right there on the outside with the guard.

“Try to behave yourself now, Gecko.” He guard said, Richie was too busy staring at her. The kimono-style wrap she had been wearing during her visits was open and he could see she was only wearing a brown bikini underneath. It was an odd look for someone who had been dead for 500 years. “Gecko, are you listening? Let’s go to your cell before I put you in solitary confinement again.”

He followed the guard to his quarters, his ghost right besides him. She didn’t say anything while they’re surrounded with people, but no one seemed to noticed her and she was never far away. Probably afraid he would escape if she let him out of her sight, he thought.

She went with him when he went outside for the patio hours they were allowed.

“Do you think there are such things as ghosts?” He asked Seth before he could control himself. Him and Seth were in different cellblocks, but still shared the same hours outside.

Seth looked at him worried just like he expected. “Ghosts? What are you talking about?”

“When I was in solitary, I…”

“Richie, you were in solitary, that’s normal. We have all seen something when we were there alone. It’s okay, buddy. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Richie sighed but he didn’t try to contradict Seth. Seth wasn’t the one able to see _her_ dancing on the table on the patio, seemingly without a care in the world, but latching on to their every word.

“It’s all going to be better now that you’re out.” Seth said again and Richie nodded even though he didn’t believe it one bit.

 

 

When he came back from dinner that night she was waiting for him lying on his bed, her body spread teasingly. Thankfully (or not), his cellmate had been released while he was in solitary and it was just the two of them.

“Your brother is wrong, you know. I am not going to go away.” She said right off the bat.

“I have noticed that. I’m just going to keep ignoring you.” He said stubbornly.

She looked at him angrily. “If you do that, I’m going to be trapped here forever.”

“Your loss.”

“What if I could give you something back?”

“Like what?”

“If you help me, I can get you and your brother out of jail.”

Richie chuckled, amused with her proposition. “I would like to see you try.” And the next second his nightstand started shaking until it was levitating a couple of feet above ground.

“I think this proves I have my ways…”

“Fine.” He agreed reluctantly. “Can you at least tell me your name now?”

She hesitated for a moment. “It’s Kisa.”

“Deal, Kisa. I will get you free and you bust us out of prison.” He said, giving his hand for her to shake.

“Deal, Richard.” Her hand hovered over his, but the moment they were supposed to meet, it went right through. He should have expected it, but strangely he was still disappointed. “Ghost problems.” She said, shrugging her shoulders.

She didn’t make any effort to go and that night she slept on his bed while he slept on the extra one.

 

 

It was not easy figuring out how to set a ghost free. He had agreed to her terms, but Kisa didn’t know much more than he did about what it was exactly that he was supposed to do. So he continued his life much the same way, only he now had someone accompanying him everywhere.

“Are you going to follow me into the showers as well?” He asked her once he saw she was standing outside the bathroom where he had just showered.

She snickered. “Please.”

“A little breathing room would be nice, then. I can’t even take a piss without you looking.” He said frustrated and immediately regretted once he saw her blushing and looking away uncomfortably. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

She nodded and breathed deeply before answering, seeming hesitant. “I know you need your space. I shouldn’t…It’s just that…”

“Just what?”

The truth came out of her mouth before she could stop it. “When I’m not with you, I’m still here, walking around these grounds, stuck in this prison. I’m a prisoner just like you, Richard. Only I’m alone in mine and no one can see me.”

The pain and loneliness she felt touched him more deeply than he expected. “I see you. I always see you.”

 

 

Their relationship improved a lot after that, to the point he was happy about having a ghost cellmate. Kisa had learned to give him space, like during his patio hours with his brother (instead of trying to call his attention by dancing on the tables) and he started actually talking to her, instead of resenting her just for being there.

“What do you miss most about being outside?” She asked him once after the lights had been turned out and they were supposed to go to sleep.

“You mean, besides women?”

She sneakered, giving him a disgusted look. “Besides that, of course.”

“Probably the movies. I sure hope uncle Eddie is taking good care of my collection or else...”

“Movies?” She repeated after him, tasting the word on her tongue. “Like the moving pictures they show in the rec room?”

“Like that. Except in the rec room they only have stupid blockbusters. Once I get out, I can show you some good ones. Maybe we can start with…”

She cut it off before he could list his ideas. “But I’m never getting out, Richard. We’re nowhere close to figuring out how to set me free.”

He shut his mouth and didn’t say anything else for the rest of the night.

 

 

Strangely enough, it was that idea that one day he might be out and Kisa would still be trapped here that propelled him to start looking for answers. So he started asking around the prison. Granted, he couldn’t ask if they new a way to “face the trials” and free a pre-Colombian ghost, but a few inquiries about weird events in the prison led him to believe there was another floor beneath the laundry room. It got more interesting when he found out that Kisa couldn’t get anywhere near that area of the prison.

“So you think that’s where the trials will take place?”

“It has to be, right? Why else wouldn’t they let you get there?”

She was pacing back and forth on his tiny cell, looking worried. “It could be some sort of trap. What if the gods want to kill you because you can see me?”

“I thought about that.” He paused, knowing she wouldn’t like what he had to say next. “We need Seth’s help.”

“What?! No, Richard. Your brother wouldn’t believe, anyway.”

“I need someone I can trust to have my back. Especially if something happen and you can’t get there.”

“Fine.”

 

 

It took some convincing and lot of show of telekinesis abilities by Kisa, but Seth finally agreed to help them. And, two nights later, they were all in front of the laundry room, ready to face whatever was down there.

“I can’t go any further.” Kisa said, looking pained. “There’s some sort of wall here that blocks me.”

Richie nodded. “This is it. We will set you free. See you soon.”

“Richard, if anything happens, I just want you to know that…”

He cut her off. “Nothing is going to happen. I will be back in no time.”

It wasn’t exactly _in no time_ nor was it easy. If Seth weren’t there, he probably wouldn’t have made it. But together they had always been stronger and they got through the labyrinth to get to the jar that contained Kisa’s essence and would allow her to be free. The minute he held the jar Kisa herself showed up in front of them.

“I guess you did it.”

“I guess I did, should I open it?” Richie could hear Seth asking him “who the hell he was talking to” and if his ghost was there, but he only had eyes for her. The moment he opened the jar he could see her changing right in front of his eyes.

First, her clothes. Instead of her usual bikini and cover-up, Kisa was wearing a simple white dress, something he remembered seeing shown as Native American clothing on his history book as a kid. Second, her skin color seemed more vivid and she looked almost solid. Lastly, she smiled at him and for the first time it seemed real.

“You really did it.” She said, seeming as amazed as him. And, remembering something, she gave him a piece of paper. “Here are the codes to the armory and the gates. I’m sure the Gecko brothers can find a way to get out with this.”

“What about you?” He asked sadly, she wasn’t expecting him to just leave her, was she?

“You set me free.” She answered him sadly. Her was hand on his cheek, softly caressing him and he swore he could almost feel it. “My spirit doesn’t belong to this world anymore. I can finally go to El Rey, where I belong.”

He nodded. He thought she would be able to see the world once he set her free, but in reality she was never meant to be here in the first place. “Do you think I will ever see you again?”

She came closer to him and whispered on his ear, “find me. Find the way to El Rey, Richard. I’ll be waiting.“ And then vanished right in front of his eyes.

 

 

The end.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Kudos and comments give me life, please share your thoughts :)


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